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Brittany Butler

ENG 1201-B53

Professor Kretzer

26 March 2020

Summary of 25 Songs

“A Saxophone, a Tuba, and Two Drum Kits Combine to Create a Piece of Music

that Somehow Captures the Whole History of Jazz” By Mark Richardson is inspiring to

the ears. The combination of sound that the Sons of Kemet produce resembles a four-

person ensemble wrapped into three with sounds like that of a wagon bounding down a

hill which is played in the album “Your Queen is a Reptile”. The roaring afrobeat of Fela

Kuti is a foundational Caribbean rhythm the syncopated beat of the drums, melody of the

tuba, and growling rhythm of the saxophone produce. The Barbados-raised, London-born

saxophone player, Shabaka Hutchings, has been inspired by heroic black women and

their joy paired with struggle and incorporated that into song titles and developed a New

London Jazz style. These sounds call people to dance and produce astounding beats of

politics that have been around for centuries. The face of one of these infamous women

will be on a $20 bill in Hutching’s pocket at one of the Sons of Kemet’s future concerts,

because of their influence.

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Works Cited

Magazine, The New York Times. “The Top 25 Songs That Matter Right Now.” The New York

Times, The New York Times, 7 Mar. 2019,

www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/07/magazine/top-songs.html#/sons-of-kemet.